Jaybee discovers fire!

[jaybee]

First of all thanks, George, for the Harbor Freight online coupon.  That coupon, a Harbor Freight gift certificate from a buddy, and an infusion of cash from my bank account turned into a gas welding rig!  Of course that starts the questions.

-How much to you spend to get your Oxy/Acetylene tanks filled, and what size are they?
-I have a fairly large roll of painted, lightly corrugated sheet steel from an old above ground pool.  If I cover my existing work bench with this material, can I work over it with projects supported on angle iron or something else?  Or do I need to get a steel plate and build a welding table from scratch?
-Any projects you'd recommend to get started?

[sirstude]

Probably the best investment in my garage is the welding table that I built.  You can clamp, pull, build jigs and almost anything else you need.  I spent years trying to weld up things on the workbench, or saw horses, or the ground, and the table just makes it much easier.  I have drilled and threaded holes in the welding table to mound my sheet metal brake, a spare vice, and several other tools that I need from time to time.  

Doug

[enjenjo]

First project, a welding table. It doesn't have to be gigantic, 2' by 3' is plenty, but once you get used to it you won't know how you got along without it. If you build it square and level, you can jig parts on it with good repeatability.

[rooster]

I found this the other day, looked kinda neat.
http://www.ctcn.net/~mikecorcoran/weldingcart/weldingcart1.html

[jaybee]

Would the top from a dead table saw or similar power tool work as a welding table?  They're almost perfectly flat, and often have edges and cut outs that could work well for clamping.

[enjenjo]

I have an old table saw as my current welding table.

[jaybee]

I have an old table saw as my current welding table.

Thanks, I'm now on the hunt for a dead table saw or similar table top.

I was happy to find out we have at least 5 places in the immediate area that will fill bottles they don't own and the price will be less than I expected.  A buddy of mine runs a production sheet metal shop and has volunteered cutoffs for practice and small projects.  I like the project pictures.  Hmm, maybe I could build the table so that it rolls and stores my rod, flux, and other incidentals underneath.  The roll of sheet I have is pretty heavy stuff, should be good for projects and practice.  I can hardly wait to get out there and start burning holes in things.  At first there will probably be more of that than anything else as I haven't touched a welding rig of any sort in a good long time.